H.R. 1434 — Strengthening Communities through Summer Employment Act

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Strengthening Communities through Summer Employment Act.”

This section authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Labor of $200 million for fiscal year 2026, $210 million for fiscal year 2027, $220 million for fiscal year 2028, $230 million for fiscal year 2029, and $240 million for fiscal year 2030 to carry out the Act. It also directs the Secretary to distribute each year’s appropriated amount as follows: 45 percent for grants under section 3, 45 percent for grants under section 4, 5 percent for evaluation activities under section 5(b), and 5 percent to fund the Advisory Board under section 6.

This section directs the Secretary of Labor to award competitive grants, using amounts available under section 2(b)(1), to eligible entities to develop new or expand existing summer youth employment programs in a State or local area. The grants are intended to improve participants’ academic, economic, and criminal justice outcomes, including high school graduation rates, postsecondary enrollment rates, employment and wage rates, and arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates. This section requires the Secretary, in coordination with the Advisory Board, to prioritize applicants that: (1) serve areas with higher youth unemployment rates and violent crime rates; (2) propose higher-quality and more rigorous programs, including programs that have been evaluated and shown impacts on the youth outcomes listed in subsection (a); and (3) serve a higher number of youth historically underserved by summer youth employment programs, including youth in rural and suburban local areas. This section requires grant applicants to submit information, in the form and manner determined by the Secretary, demonstrating that the proposed grant will be used to develop, implement, or expand a summer youth employment program that includes specified program elements. As background, summer youth employment programs provide paid work experience and related supports to young people during the summer months. This section requires funded programs to: (1) provide youth participants under age 25 with subsidized employment for at least 4 weeks during the summer; (2) pay at least the greater of the applicable Federal, State, or local minimum wage; (3) provide community engagement and outreach to ensure equitable access through awareness, application, and hiring, including documentation of eligibility; (4) match each participant with an employer based on the employer’s needs and the youth participant’s skills and interests; (5) provide coaching and mentoring to support completion of the program; (6) assist participants in obtaining educational and employment opportunities after the program, including secondary school programs, postsecondary education, apprenticeships, career and technical education, or adult job training programs, as applicable; (7) provide training, coaching, mentoring, and technical assistance to participating employers; and (8) provide supports before, during, and after participation, such as digital literacy training, work-readiness opportunities, financial literacy training, job-specific training, and career counseling.

This section establishes a competitive grant program for eligible entities that operate summer youth employment programs, using amounts appropriated under section 2(b)(2), to integrate innovative approaches intended to improve youth outcomes. It directs the Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the Advisory Board, to prioritize applicants with higher youth unemployment and violent crime rates, stronger and more rigorous programs and innovative approaches, and greater service to historically underserved youth, including youth in rural and suburban areas. This section requires applicants to describe how they will incorporate one or more specified innovative approaches into their summer youth employment programs. Those approaches include individualized mentoring and coaching; small-group job training, career counseling, or educational tutoring; social-emotional learning; wrap-around financial assistance for food, shelter, and transportation; mental health and substance abuse supports; continuation of certain services after the summer employment period ends; virtual program elements to build digital literacy and remote work skills; Learn and Earn opportunities; expanded private-sector opportunities in in-demand occupations or industry sectors under 29 U.S.C. 3102; skill-based digital badges; laddered job opportunities across multiple summers; Advisory Board-identified elements; and other new innovative elements approved by the Secretary in consultation with the Advisory Board.

This section requires each eligible entity receiving a grant under section 3 or 4 to develop and implement, beginning not later than 1 year after receiving the grant and for each succeeding year of the grant period, an annual performance measurement assessment, in consultation with the Advisory Board established under section 6, to determine whether the summer youth employment program is being carried out in compliance with the applicable program requirements. It also directs the Secretary of Labor, using amounts appropriated under section 2(b)(3), to award a contract to one or more independent research organizations or nonprofit organizations to conduct impact evaluations of each summer youth employment program supported by a grant under section 3 or 4. As background, summer youth employment programs provide temporary work and related services to youth participants to build job skills and improve education and employment outcomes. The impact evaluation must begin not later than 3 years after the program first receives support and must use administrative data to measure program effects on participants at 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years after program completion on: (1) high school graduation rates, (2) postsecondary enrollment rates, (3) employment and wage rates, and (4) crime rates, such as arrest, arraignment, or incarceration rates. The evaluation must also use survey data collected during the program to assess short-term changes in soft skills, academic and career goals, and job readiness. The section further requires the use of randomized experimental designs when feasible, or other methods that allow for the strongest possible causal inferences when random assignment is not feasible. Finally, it requires the Advisory Board to provide additional resources to the contractor, including assistance with randomized experimental designs, to carry out the evaluations.

This section establishes within the Department of Labor an Advisory Board, funded from amounts available under section 2(b)(4), to assist the Secretary of Labor in administering summer youth employment grants. The Secretary determines the number of members, appoints each member, and may reappoint members for successive 4-year terms; members filling vacancies serve only the remainder of the unexpired term. Advisory Board members and staff, including the Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, and Director, are paid at rates set by the Secretary, except that full-time federal employees may not receive additional compensation for Board service. Members receive travel expenses under 5 U.S.C. chapter 57, a majority plus one constitutes a quorum, and the Board may hold hearings with fewer members. The Secretary designates the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson at appointment, each for a 4-year term, and the Board must meet monthly and at the call of the Chairperson or a majority of members. The Board has a Director appointed by the Chairperson, may hire additional staff and temporary experts and consultants under 5 U.S.C. § 3109(b), and may receive detailed federal personnel on a reimbursable basis. As background, the Act provides grants for summer youth employment programs that serve eligible entities and youth participants. The Board must assist the Secretary by (1) reviewing grant applications to ensure selected entities will use funds as required, (2) providing technical assistance to grantees, including through a working group of program administrators to share best practices and identify existing programs with evaluated program elements that improve academic, economic, and criminal justice outcomes, (3) identifying innovative program elements and recommending whether proposed new elements demonstrate or are reasonably expected to demonstrate evidence of improving youth outcomes, (4) publishing a database of completed impact evaluations of grant-supported programs and program elements, and (5) assisting with impact evaluations under section 5(b)(3).

This section adds definitions for “eligible entity,” “Secretary,” and “State” for purposes of the Act and incorporates the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) definitions of “local area,” “local board,” “State board,” and “unit of general local government” from 29 U.S.C. 3102. It defines an eligible entity as a State or State board, a unit of general local government or local board, a nonprofit organization, or a consortium of any of those entities; defines the Secretary as the Secretary of Labor; and defines State to include the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.